McClain Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Aaron Parazette that will open at McClain Gallery, 2242 Richmond Avenue, Houston, on February 22 and continue through March 22, 2008. This will be the Houston-based artist’s first solo exhibition with McClain Gallery.
Parazette’s recent work uses words taken from surfer lexicon to create high key color, hard-edged paintings of considerable complexity. After doing preliminary design and color work on the computer, each composition is hand transferred to the full-scale canvas and then painted using a custom color palette. The painting surfaces are flawless, and each letter form has a double “pinstripe” racing around it’s edge, introducing yet another set of color relationships. The vivid color effects are complicated, vibrant, and exciting.
Parazette was born in 1960 and grew up in Southern California, where he developed his ongoing passion for surfing. After receiving an MFA in 1990 from Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA, he relocated to Houston. He is currently an Associate Professor of Painting at the University of Houston. Among the institutions in which Parazette has shown are the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina. He was the recipient of a 2004 Artadia Fund for Art and Design Award and received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award in 1994.
An opening reception for the artist will be held at McClain Gallery on Friday, February 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Saturday, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.